3.22.2018

My birthday is coming up in a few days. I didn't celebrate much in recent years (with the exception of last year) but this year I do have a few plans and several birthday dinners! For the first, I went with my mom and sister for dinner at Byblos (yes - I went last week as well!). This time I knew better on which dishes to order and we also took some recommendations from my sister's boss as it's one of his favourite restaurants. We were one of the first to arrive and stayed for three hours..

We got the Spanish Octopus, Sabzi Qatayef and Black Truffle Pide to start. All of them were really good. I really liked the smokey seasoning on the octopus. The Sabzi Qatayef was similar to empanadas. They were filled with really tender braised oxtail, topped with jalapeno schug and sheep's yogurt. The pide had buffalo mozzarella, halloumi, creme fraiche and of course black truffle. I think I'd love all their pides.

This was the Roasted Lamb Shoulder. It comes like this and you make your own wrap. We also got the Crispy Hand-Rolled Couscous mixed with collards and halloumi.

Finally for dessert...the Pavlova and Pistachio Ice Cream bar. The pavlova was like a shell of lemon meringue which is cracked open to reveal a strawberry sorbet, white chocolate, milk crumble cake-thing.

I recently got this book about Alibaba and Jack Ma's life. I've always been fascinated by him and the company. It's very interesting so far. Some parts are pretty inspirational and I also got emotional at some parts lol. Now I also ordered a few more books related to Alibaba which are on the way...

3.20.2018

Visiting Huangshan was one of the most memorable experiences of my Asia trip/life but I put off making this post because I knew my photos wouldn't do the place justice at all. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, from the views driving around the mountain range to the cable car ride where being surrounded by all the enormous mountains provided me an indescribable feeling. I love travelling to these types of places. Being so deep in nature and feeling very disconnected with the rest of the world. The views from hiking around the mountain were spectacular. & as the fog rolled in it created a perfect atmosphere.

On the drive up. You can see the road hanging off on the side of the mountain. We drove there on a tour bus, then another smaller tour bus (that goes on the more narrow and windy roads), then the cable car to the top of the mountain. Or almost at the top.

The views are 8728734209x better in person than in my photos. Everyone in the cable car just stared in awe at our surroundings..and taking nonstop photos.

3.17.2018

I don't think I was as successful with taking more non-food photos this time around, as that's what this post will mostly consist of.
Some random photos taken in the past few weeks:

Dinner last night at Figo. I really liked the interiors in there. For appetizers we got the fried calamari and zucchini fritti. I loved the zucchini fritti..it was my first time ever having them. They were pretty filling though. I got my usual margherita pizza (this is the only pizza I order any time I order pizza lol) & the Pom Fizz cocktail. My boyfriend got the Despacito (which is pretty fitting since that was his nickname for a long time..hahahh. I'm also listening to the song while I make this post.) For dessert we got the Chocolate Almond Torta which I thought would taste like a Torta Caprese but unfortunately it didn't. We probably shouldn't have ordered it since we were already extremely full from the food.

I managed to find Hennessy (my dog) a new Dog Perignon toy! He had one many years ago but it got destroyed..& I've been wanting a replacement ever since.

Dinner at Zakkushi, a Japanese yakitori izakaya. You order per skewer. I liked the concept and atmosphere in there (it felt pretty authentic) but the food was just ok. My favourite was the carbonara udon. I was pretty disappointed by the takoyaki and dessert though.

Lunch with my mom at Dagu Rice Noodle. This place doesn't have really good reviews but we really liked it. We both got the tomato "Crossing the Bridge" noodles. The broth was delicious and flavourful. This was my second time having Crossing the Bridge noodles. If you are interested in the origins/story behind the name, I posted about it here last time (scroll down).

My boyfriend recommended Money Heist to me, and I watched the entire series within 3-4 days. It's sooooo good and addictive!! I highly recommend it. It's in Spanish though but comes with subtitles on Netflix.

Dinner at Byblos. I really loved this place. When choosing a restaurant for that night I wanted to try something ethnic and different. Byblos is Eastern Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cuisine. The pide (above) was my favourite. Everything was delicious and I feel for next time I would know better for what to order..since we kind of over-ordered on the rice lol:

The top left is an all-rice dish ("Sweet Jeweled") mixed with almonds, barberries, saffron and carrots. Then we got the lamb ("Tah-Dig") which was topped with a lot more rice. Then we got a side of couscous. Everything was really good though. For dessert we got the Loukoumades, a Greek dessert very beautifully decorated with flower petals:

I really liked the interior here as well (I feel I say this for all the restaurants I go) but I couldn't take good photos of it since it was so dark. I loved the round couch seats.

I posted in my previous "Recent Life" post about reading Crazy Rich Asians and being addicted to it. I finished it in a matter of days and got the sequel, China Rich Girlfriend which I also finished pretty quickly. Those were the first books I've read in years lol. Now I started reading again and have decided to go through my stack of unread books:

Dinner at Walrus Pub, a brand new "pub" that opened around the corner from me. The food was ok. I liked the interiors (as usual)!

Since I tend to always go back to the same places..one of the (many) good things about being in a relationship is trying a lot of different restaurants, so here is the final one of this post (of very many lol). Last weekend we went for dinner at Adega, a Portuguese/Spanish restaurant. They're famous for the octopus. It seemed all the tables ordered it. I also think we over-ordered on the appetizers here since I was already kind of full before the mains arrived. We got two types of croquettes; beef and prosciutto along with the octopus in the photo above.